World Museum, Liverpool
Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.
Sudley House
Liverpool, Merseyside
Sudley House is the least known of the National Museums Liverpool venues, a Victorian merchant's home in Mossley Hill that still has its original wallpaper and George Holt's paintings hanging where he put them, Turner, Rossetti and Holman Hunt among them. The ground floor is for the grown-ups. The first floor is the reason to bring children, with a childhood room of toys old and new, a costume room and a small world room.
It is free, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm (4pm from 3 November), and the tea room on the ground floor does hot drinks and cake, with a courtyard at the back in warmer months. Parking is free but there is not much of it. Plan for an hour inside, then walk it off: Calderstones Park and Sefton Park are both a short drive.
What it costs: Free entry, donations welcome. Some special events charge.
Know before you go
- Go straight upstairs: the childhood room, costume room and small world room are on the first floor and are the bits children remember.
- Closed Mondays except in the school holidays, when it opens on Monday 26 October, 21 December and 28 December. From 3 November it closes at 4pm, not 5pm.
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Speke Hall
A Tudor hall with woodland walks, a maze and a natural play area in the grounds. Free if you have National Trust membership, and the indoor house is a good rain fallback.
Museum of Liverpool
The city's story with an overhead railway carriage to climb aboard and Little Liverpool, a dedicated hands-on gallery for under-6s. Free, on the waterfront, and the window views are half the fun.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
Closed until 2028. The Maritime and International Slavery Museums shut in early 2025 for a full redevelopment. The Albert Dock around them is still worth the walk, and the city's other national museums remain free and open.
Mersey Ferries River Explorer
The famous ferry across the Mersey run as a 50-minute sightseeing loop with commentary, and the honest truth is kids love the boat more than any museum. Hop off at Seacombe for Eureka! next door.
Calderstones Park
South Liverpool's favourite park: lake, playground, ancient trees and the Storybarn, The Reader's hands-on storytelling space in the old coach house. The neolithic Calder Stones are older than Stonehenge, which is a good fact to deploy.
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